Two Gun Owners Pulled Over in NJ Receive Shockingly Different Police Treatment

New Jersey Gov. Christopher J. Christie with former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (AP)

We all know New Jersey gun laws are not kind to the Second Amendment or legal gun owners, but the level of gross mistreatment of one Pennsylvania woman took their psychopathic tendencies to a new level.

On Tuesday, Eagles wide receiver Josh Huff was pulled over for speeding on the New Jersey side of the Walt Whitman Bridge that connects that state with Pennsylvania. Huff was cited for DUI and arrested after police discovered a gun and drugs in his vehicle.

Police charged Huff with criminal possession of a weapon for a 9mm handgun with six hollow-point bullets officers found in his car and received a summons for marijuana possession.

Huff’s gun is legally licensed in Texas, but not in New Jersey. Huff said Wednesday he “made a terrible decision” and apologized to his Eagle teammates, also noting, “I’m a professional athlete, what professional athlete don’t have a gun? I have a wife and I have a son at home. My job is to protect them at all cost. To protect myself as well. Even though I know I have security here, I know I have to protect myself as well.”

Huff’s actions will most definitely come with consequences, both from the NFL and the New Jersey. But his experience with police in the Garden State was much different than that of Meg Fellenbaum of Pennsylvania, who became a legal gun owner and began firearms training after she was targeted in a series of attacks for being gay.

Meg was driving through Warren County, on her way to the New Jersey home she shares with her girlfriend in Hackettstown, NJ. During her trip, she received a text from her girlfriend and, since it is illegal to text and drive, Meg pulled her car over to the side of the road to respond. At the time, her (legal) firearms were unloaded and secured, locked in the trunk of her car.

A New Jersey State police officer saw Meg’s car on the side of the road and approached her vehicle to inquire if she needed assistance. Meg said she was fine and explained that she had only stopped to text her girlfriend, and the officer returned to his police vehicle.

But before she could pull back onto the road, the officer approached her vehicle again, this time claiming to have observed a single bullet on her back seat floor of her car. When questioned if she was carrying a gun, Meg replied “No.”, but stated she does have a permit to carry in the state of Pennsylvania. The officer requested her PA carry permit, which she produced.

The officer informed her that permit had expired in February and directed her out of her vehicle – then handcuffed her and read Meg her Miranda rights. When she asked the officer what was happening, he informed her she was not under arrest and ‘being handcuffed for her safety’.

Meg never actually saw the bullet in question that the officers had mentioned or that it was, as the police claimed, a hollow point.

Meg was placed in the officer’s police vehicle and officers advised her to sign a consent form to allow them to search her vehicle.

After refusing to consent, an officer on scene exclaimed, “Great! Looks like we’re doing this the hard way! Let’s get it towed to the station!”

Her car was towed and Meg was taken into the police station, still unclear on what she was being detained for. At the station, she was handcuffed to a bench for 10 hours as officers interrogated and tried to intimidate her, demanding consent to search her vehicle. Meg suffered multiple panic attacks and her requests for a lawyer, phone call, even a tampon were continually denied by the police.

A copy of the police report obtained by Ammoland confirmed that Meg was charged with Unlawful Possession of Weapons, Possession of Hollow Tip Ammunition and, because police say she was on a private property when she pulled her car over, Criminal Trespassing.

Meg was in jail for a week (where she was finally provided maxi pads), lost income due to not being able to work, and her grandmother, who Meg is her primary caretaker, fell twice since nobody was able to assist her. All of this because she had her legally owned firearms, locked in the trunk of her car per federal transport laws, and allegedly a single round on the back floor of her vehicle.

But even without a handgun-carrying permit, residents or citizens just passing through, can legally transport unloaded guns in their vehicles, so why is this disturbing treatment of a legal gun owner in New Jersey continuing to occur? And secondly, why was there such a gross disparity in police treatment of a drunk man speeding with a loaded gun and marijuana in his car and a lesbian pulled over to the side of the road with an unloaded gun locked in her trunk?

Following his failed bid to secure the Republican presidential nomination, Governor Chris Christie returned to New Jersey in April to invoke the name of Carol Bowne in his announcement that he would be working to strengthen Second Amendment rights for Garden State residents.

“The terrible tragedy involving Berlin resident Carol Bowne last summer was a jarring example of a permitting system that had failed and needed to be reexamined and fixed,” Christie said, adding that his new policies were meant to ensure that “constitutional rights will be protected and respected in New Jersey.”

Well, how’d that work out for Meg Fellenbaum?

Perhaps Christie Creme found a way to fit into Bloomberg’s pocket, and is unable to hear the cries of his people over the sound of money jingling in his ears. One has to wonder if New Jersey will ever get straight on the Second Amendment, but if you are interested in assisting Meg in covering her legal fees, you can donate to her legal defense fund [HERE].

As for Josh Huff, I’m fairly confident he’ll be able to afford to secure legal representation on his own.

Born and raised in northern rural Wisconsin, she is an avid outdoors woman, target and skeet shooter, Second Amendment supporter and defender, concealed carry advocate, NRA member and frequent guest on the NRATV News programs Cam&Co and CNLive.
Jenn is a wife and mother, former private detective, active in WI politics, and an outspoken conservative gun owner. Her personal blog can be found on jennjacques.com and you can follow her on Twitter at @JennJacques.
https://bearingarms.com/author/jennjacques/